Have you stayed put?

I was born in the East Midlands, moved to Devon and now back to within around five miles of my birthplace.

My family came from N Wales and Somerset in the 19th century to London, where they lived in the same Borough for four generations, we moved out to Kent in the 70's. Unbeknown to us my DH family have lived here in the 19th century just down the road from where we are.

My mother's family are Lancashire through and through., said "If you're not a Crompton, you're a Greenhalgh" because these two family names go back a long way and can be found throughout Lancashire. (we are Greenhalgh) I was born Lancashire but moved about after marriage and now live in Scotland. Rest of siblings/extended family close to where they started.

I live just around the corner from the house where I was born. I can see the house from a bedroom window. Dad was born 2 miles away, Mum 3 miles away. All of our family and my parents brothers and sisters have stayed in the vicinity until death except my sister who married and lives in Bath and my eldest sister who married an American in the mid fifties and lived there ever since. My friends who I grew up with since starting school have all married and live here in the same village as their parents and other family. We're not very adventurous are we.

Lucca The FreeCEN transcription work involves transcribing details from pdfs of handwritten census records to an Excel (or compatible) spreadsheet. So you need a computer of some sort and the relevant software, plus internet access to download and upload the files. I use a smallish laptop, but a bigger screen would make the job easier. You work at your own pace, and with luck may be able to choose an area of the country which interests you. (In my case this was the Lancashire countryside around Chipping where my maternal family were small farmers and farm labourers for generations. They upped sticks to the then new seaside resort of St Annes in the late 19th century to set up as butchers, selling meat reared on the family farm.) Returning to the point, I guess it helps a bit to be familiar with the census area so you can decipher names and places more readily, Anyway, here's the link to the FreeCEN volunteering page www.freecen.org.uk/cms/opportunities-to-volunteer-with-freecen

Born in Cardiff but my dad was in the RAF and we moved every 2 to 3 years. In fact I went to 13 different schools and this has given me the confidence to go anywhere on my own. My late teens were spent working in Sweden and travelling Europe. Now settled in place for 30 years, the longest time I have spent in one place. I have friends scattered around the country and the World. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I was told that when people are born in big cities they often move out along the railway lines - and thinking about that, it seems to be the case for most of the people I know. The area I lived in became pretty well intolerable some twenty years ago and we have effectively moved a long train journey from what was our nearest railway line.

Some of my family originally moved from rural Herefordshire to build the railways in the 1800s Rosina!

I'm glad that they helped your family to re-locate (albeit in a small way )

I have moved out along a railway line about 25 miles! So not very far!
In between I have lived in E Africa and then in the NE of England before returning to the southern parts of Greater London. I moved from SW to SE and then back to SW London until, a few years ago, we came down the line into Surrey!

I am the product of two world wars! I don't think my father would have left his rural town if he had not been moved with his regiment about the country in WW2 and met my mother. Nor would my maternal grandparents have met for the same reason in WW1.
An earlier poster said she thought it was unusual to move from Somerset to London in Victorian times, but I think as the rural trades went into decline people moved to cities for work, and the arrival of the railways helped that.

I don't think it was at all unusual to move and to emigrate, although many did stay in their home villages and marry locally.

Yes Jalima - that's another good point too about shifting populations. In the 19th Century the 'push pull factor' accounted for so many people coming into cities to find work - and build the railways, so a big thanks to your ancestors! The mechanisation of farming pushed my ancestors out of a rural life and the pull of the cities where they could find labouring work or go into the new factories and workshops accounted for my not being born in the countryside. So interesting to see how life has changed and evolved for the working man and woman.

It must have been a wrench leaving Herefordshire, though, but they never went back there.

Nannyxthree agree with you there! My paternal grandfather ended up overseas at the end of WW1 and stayed! My mother and her family had stayed within 20 miles of the bigger town though, due to WW2 jobs and postings one aunt who was a WAF married a man all the way from Alnwick ( to Darlington) and my other maternal aunt went to work in Jamaica to avoid the scandal of baby born to her as an unwed woman. So yes wars do move people about as does lack of work, famine etc. Sadly still happens now!

Born in Hampshire - but due to county boundary changes, found myself living in Dorset. Actually moved back to the same village I was born last year as we love the area, despite the changes time has brought.

Originally from Wiltshire, I never really went back to live once I went to college. I worked in London and Singapore (where I met DH), and we settled in Northants where his job was based. Been here since 1972, with tours of duty in Cyprus and Australia.
DM was from Sheffield and was posted to Wiltshire with the Land Army where she met my father. She never moved away.
I am the eldest of five and we are all scattered far and wide.

I moved because of marriage, fifty years ago to Sweden, would give anything to move back to the UK!
My parents always lived near to where they were born, until they died, their parents moved from Ireland and Yorkshire, my Mum and Dads generation didnt seem to move about much, they loved where they lived and where I grew up.

Born in Gloucestershire and never moved out of the county. Happily all the family are around, too - well, it is a beautiful part of England! However, I can trace ancestors on my mother’s side back to the Isle of Man, and I would love to know what brought them so far south. However, a question for all of you who’ve scattered far from your birthplace, have you kept your accents or have you adapted your speech to where you live now? Do people try to guess your origin?

I have lived in two different counties in my life. Neither of my parents were born in those counties and generations before that were from Eastern Europe.

My ancestors are all from Yorkshire apart from one arm that moved up from Lincolnshire many generations ago and one great grandfather who was from Devon. I was born outside the county (but in the north!) and when I was 3 my parents and I moved back to Yorkshire followed a few years later by my maternal grandparents. So we were all back where our roots were. The paternal grandparents never left Yorkshire.

EllenT. I also did a lot of transcribing of the census for FreeCen. My areas were the east end of London and opposite to your experience so many of the families came from Poland/Russia or Germany, possibly following pogroms and persecution. And in many cases they arrived with children born in their home countries, then had one or two here, then the next one or two were born in U.S.A, or Canada, followed by another one or two born here. Can you imagine the hardships of taking a voyage across the Atlantic with several small children in those days. Then coming back!! Some also seemed to move around within England before returning to the east end.
In my own family apart from a g g grandmother from Ireland my ancestors seem to have moved between Cornwall and London, and Worcestershire.

My great aunt traced my mother’s paternal family back to France in the 1100s .They later escaped to England with the Huguenots. Part of the family stayed in the Southampton area,part in London and part in Yorkshire.,My parents grew up in Rotherham and then moved to Barnsley,where I was born. I was there until going to college in London. Had 3 years at college and then 3 years teaching in North London.
On getting married I moved to Nottingham and have been here ever since. My heart is still in Yorkshire but ,widowed for 10 years now, I can’t see myself returning. I have my DD,SIL,DGS and DGD here and the rest of my family are in Pembrokeshire -300 miles away ,sadly.

This thread is so reassuring to me in that so many members are in or from Lancashire or the NW, and I include Liverpool, the Wirral and North Yorkshire as that’s all local to me. I had no idea as I assumed (for some reason) most members were from the Home Counties!

I’m born and bred in Lancashire, have lived as far away as Manchester but moved 8 times in and around Lancashire due to my husbands job. My mum was from Yorkshire so I think I’m not far from my birthplace.

My 2 siblings & I are all within 6 miles of our 1st home.Though my eldest sibling has lived abroad . EllenT...least we come from beautiful county. Lancashire . Interested in your freecen. Would love to know more. A.

Luckylegs I too was surprised at the number of posts from the North and particularly Lancashire, whether they left or stayed.

grammargran A whole new thread could be started on accents! I have had Cumbrian, Geordie, Northern Irish, Scottish, Welsh (North) and Lancastrian influences on my accent and usually can only be defined as 'Northern'.